For the young at art

It wasn't just that 1,300-some pieces were submitted by San Joaquin County teachers for The Haggin Museum's 80th McKee Student Art Exhibition, which she had to judge.

"They were way above average and outstanding," said Gonsalves, a Modesto-based artist and retired art teacher who was asked to judge the contest for the first time. "I was impressed with the number of artworks from the county. That's wonderful. And the variety of media was wonderful, from kindergarten all the way up through high school. There were digital creations that looked like watercolors and paintings and prints. There was great treatment of pencil, even in the third grade. I thought, 'My heavens!' "

Selecting winners in each group for the show, which opened Saturday and runs through April 3, was tough. Choosing Bear Creek senior Alexis Ortega's charcoal portrait as Best in Show was the easy part.

"Was that professional," Gonsalves gushed. "It stuck out like a sore thumb. The composition was wonderful. I knew that artist really was into that portrait, really saw into that subject, that person."

Ortega certainly did.

The subject was her 14-year-old brother, Marc, a freshman at Bear Creek.

"I like my brother's expression," Ortega said. "I told him when I was taking the picture to make a weird face, and he gave me a confused look. I'm very familiar with it. He gives that look to me all the time."

The look struck her art teacher, Marilyn Eger, too.

"I like the expression on the face," Eger said. "I liked her use of form and contrast between light and dark. It brings an emotional feeling when you look at it. You pick up on that character he's got in his face. He's got something on his mind."

Working from a photograph, Ortega, 17, sketched with charcoal, a relatively new medium for her.

"I recently picked up charcoal, because I'd tried it out one time," Ortega said. "I really like it. I've been practicing, and now it's my specialty."

The winning piece is not her first portrait, nor will it be her last. She completed an oil painting of her sister, Divina, a seventh-grader. As a student in Advance Placement art, Ortega chose faces as her area of specialization required for the second semester, and she will be doing many more.

"When she started the class, she didn't understand how to light the figure, to get that strong contrast of lights and darks on the face and head," Eger said.

"I showed her how to light figures so that she could take dramatic photos to work from. It made a huge difference in the volume of the head."

Ortega is a serious student who took to the instruction. She's also an admitted perfectionist, but Eger gives her credit for other skills.

"She also has things you can't teach," Eger said. "Her intuition is so wonderful, and so is her love and passion for art."

Ortega began taking art classes as a freshman but had tried drawing years before. Her dad, Mark, drew cartoon characters for her when she was a little girl and encouraged her to draw, too, buying her how-to-draw books.

It wasn't until taking Eger's beginning art class as a freshman that Ortega found the artist in herself, though.

"There was a silk screening assignment, and I just decided I wanted to break free of looking at something and copying it," Ortega said. "I needed to get something from my heart, something that came out naturally. I started to just draw without thinking. That was when I got serious about my talent."

Her drawing for the assignment was of a girl with two distinct sides.

"It's like a dual personality-type thing," Ortega said. "One side is happy, and one side is a dark side, the side people don't see about a person. That really came from the heart. I was proud of it, then. It just grew from that."

That growth amazes Eger.

"Leaps and bounds," the teacher said. "I would have never known from the last time I had her that she was going to be this strong. She's grown exponentially."

Part of it stems from her passion for art, which is evident when Ortega talks about a trip she made to Italy last year with her Italian teacher and other students.

"We did the whole tour: Rome, Venice, Florence," Ortega said. "It was amazing. I loved it. One thing I'll never forget was seeing the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing. I was blown away by everything."

The great work by Michelangelo has stayed with her, but Leonardo da Vinci is her favorite artist.

"His figure drawing and painting, everything," Ortega said.

"He seemed like a very analytical person, and that's how I am. I like to analyze things, take time to notice the little things other people wouldn't. And his shadowing was to die for."

The budding da Vinci sees art in her future, both creating it and teaching it. It's a realistic goal, she said, because of her parents, Mark and Sonya.

"They're really supportive of it, and I love them for that," Ortega said. "Most parents would be, like, 'Artist are just bums; they don't do anything with their lives.' My parents don't think that at all. They think; 'Take this talent and do something good. Get a good education, and go from there.' "

Ortega's piece and those submitted by other students in 70 schools debuted Saturday and will remain until April 3. The Haggin is in Victory Park at 1201 N. Pershing Ave, Stockton. It is open 1:30-5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 1:30-9 p.m. the first and third Thursday of each month. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for those 65 and older, 10 to 17, and students, and free for children younger than 10 with an adult. Admission is free to all on the first Saturday of the month.

March is the art center's busiest month, beginning Friday with member Janet Hayden opening her monthlong show for the Friday Art Hop from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The Art Center's 51st Spring Show is March 18 to 20 at Woodbridge Winery, and submissions for the show will be accepted from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with judging from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The show, "A Renaissance in Lodi," begins with a Preview Night Benefit Gala from 6 to 9 p.m. March 18. The Renaissance period costume party will feature wine, gourmet hors d'oeuvres and a strolling minstrel. There will be door prizes, costume prizes, a raffle and a silent auction. Tickets are $50 with proceeds benefiting the Lodi Community Art Center. For tickets, call (209) 333-3855. The show is free and open to the public 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 19 and 20. The winery is on Woodbridge Road, one mile east of Highway 99.

The art center is at 1373 Lakewood Mall, Ham Lane and West Locust Street.

Information: (209) 333-3855.

Tidewater Art Center and Gallery, 223 E. Weber Ave., Stockton

One-time San Joaquin Delta College art instructor Don Hall brings his monumental portrait drawings to the gallery for a show that runs from March 8 to April 1. Hall's large-scale portraits feature subjects from 1 to 80 years old. An artist's reception is from 5 to 8 p.m. March 11.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Information: (209) 463-4033.

San Joaquin County Law Library, 20 N. Sutter St., Stockton

Nature, objects and people are the subject of Jack Nguyen's continuing photography show.

"A Sort of Homecoming," an installation by Stockton native and Delta College graduate Tracey Snelling, continues. The artist, whose work has been shown nationally and internationally, explores diverse cultures influenced by architecture and the urban landscape.

Marilyn Eger has been painting since childhood, when her parents created a studio in the back of their antique store for her. She is the Stockton Art League's featured artist of the month. A reception for her will be from 4 to 7 p.m. March 12. The Bear Creek High School teacher, one of whose students earned the top prize in the McKee competition, also is the demonstration artist of the month and will conduct her class from 7 to 9 p.m. March 10.

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Information: (209) 466-6604.

Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific

Pacific undergraduate student Marie-Clare Treseder presents her senior thesis on her great-grandfather, painter, printer and craftsman artist William Seltzer Rice. The show opens Tuesday and runs through April 5. Rice served as supervisor of art in Stockton public schools from the time he moved to California from Pennsylvania in 1900 until 1910. He then moved to the Bay Area, where he taught and became renowned for his block print making. A public reception for the exhibit will be 5:30 p.m. March 17.

The gallery, at 1071 Mendocino Ave., is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Information: (209) 946-2241.

Knowlton Gallery, 115 S. School St., Lodi

"Wildflowers West," celebrating spring in California, opens a two-month run and features works by Clark Mitchell, Charles Muench, Ray Roberts, Kathleen Dunphy, Kim Lordier, Charles Waldman, Janette Jones and Carolyn Lord. An opening reception with the artists will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Information: (209) 368-5123.

Gallery 10, 15 Eureka St., Sutter Creek

"Sky and Earth," featuring new watercolor collages by award-winning Amador County artist Lynn Slade, is the featured show in March.

Slade's watercolor collages often deal with the vastness of nature, with exaggerated skies, tall, majestic mountains and vast expanses of peaceful fields. A reception is scheduled from, 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Gallery 10 is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

Information: (209) 772-0203.

Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, 715 Central Ave., Tracy

"Expressions! Selections," features pieces selected by Grand Theatre gallery supervisor Williams Wilson from the annual "Expressions!" show that was held in February in the Tracy Community Center and drew works from all over Northern California.

The show opens March 12 with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. with featured artists. A gallery talk with Wilson and an artist panel discussion will be from noon to 2 p.m. April 9. The show runs through April 16.

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Information: (209) 831-6278.

Gallery Calaveras, 22 Main St., San Andreas

The gallery celebrates Arts in Education month with its ArtSpirit Exhibit featuring works by Calaveras County high school students. Results of the judging will be announced during the show reception, scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m. March 12. The show runs through April 23.

The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

Information: (209) 754-1774.

Galerie Copper, 145 Stone St., Copperopolis

Painter Gereon Rios is the featured artist of the month in March and will display portraits done in oil in the tradition of the old masters. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Information: (209) 785-2050.

Sonora Joe's Coffee Gallery, 140 S. Washington St., Sonora

"The Changing Celtic Landscape," a show of oil paintings by Patrick Michael Karnahan, on display through March 20. The collection features Irish and Celtic landscapes and portraits.

The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Information: (209) 533-4455.

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